The present disclosure relates generally to image manipulation techniques and, more particularly, to techniques for transforming a multi-frame asset into an image.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
The technology to store images digitally has existed for at least the past fifty years. Indeed, rapid advances in digital imaging occurred with the introduction of microprocessors in the 1970's, and significant advances in microprocessor and memory technology have virtually eliminated the use of film and tape in photography and videography. Each digital image or frame is stored as an array of pixels, and the color and intensity of each pixel is determined by its digital value, where each digital value includes a number of bits per pixel. For example, a pixel having eight bits per pixel can represent two hundred fifty-six different colors, whereas a pixel having twenty-four bits per pixel can represent over sixteen million colors.
Not too surprisingly, because each pixel is defined by a digital value, digital images can be altered or edited by changing the value of selected pixels. Indeed, shortly after the introduction of digital images, graphics software, sometimes referred to as video or image editing software, emerged. In the early 1990's Adobe introduced Photoshop® exclusively for use on MacIntosh computers, and it has evolved over the years to become one of the most popular photo and video editing programs in the world.
While early photo and video editing programs were originally conceived to simply improve or enhance images, such as by providing color editing, digital retouching, special effects and the like, users found that such editing programs could be used to produce all sorts of humorous and artistic image alterations. For example, images could be altered to attach one person's head to another person's body, to turn a color image into a more artistic black and white image, etc. Furthermore, with the advent of smart phones (and apps that run on them), photo and video editing programs became widely available to the general populace, both for more traditional uses such as removing red-eye or improving contrast a photo, as well as for more humorous or artistic purposes. As one example, Crazy Helium Booth produced by Appkruti Solutions LLP allows users to create photographs having funny faces such as might be produced by a wavy mirror in a funhouse, as well as videos that alter a user's face and voice.
Programs for altering images or videos for humorous or artistic purposes have proven quite popular. Nevertheless, even though a number of programs exist, they are all fairly similar to one another. Further none of the available programs convert a multi-frame media asset, such as a video or panoramic view, into humorous or artistic single frame image.